Little Donkey Hooded Sweater

Silly Season was the perfect excuse to have some fun with this Donkey sweater.  A stocking stitch body and moss stitch cuffs and collar means this cutie won’t take long to knit.  The real magic is in the long flowing mane, created using tassels, and there’s a handy pouch pocket in the front for storing carrots.  But my favourite element to this design, the ears, adorable!

This would make a great nativity costume for a little one, or just an extra funky Christmas sweater.

The pattern is written to fit chest sizes 53 – 73.5cm which is approx. 1-11 years old.

To knit this you will need:

• Stylecraft, Life DK (75% acrylic, 25% wool, 100g/298 m) in Grey, Silver Grey and Charcoal
• 3.25mm needles
• 4mm needles
• 4mm crochet hook (for mane)
• Locking stitch markers
• Tapestry needle

I look forward to seeing your finished projects.

Happy Knitting,

Cute Knit for a Deer One

Who can resist a little person in a cute knit? Not me!  I am a tiny bit addicted to reindeers this year, you may have seen one or two pop up in some of my designs.  I was looking for a way to add a touch of festive to a simple sweater and it hit me….. REINDEER.

This cute sweater is a classic drop shoulder construction, worked from the bottom up.  The pockets are worked separately, you can either work them using the intarsia method. Or if you fancy giving swiss darning (or duplicate stitch as it sometimes known) a try, then this is the perfect project for you.

The pattern is written to fit chest sizes 53 – 73.5cm, which is approx. 12 months to 11 years.

To knit this you will need:

• King Cole Merino Blend DK (100% wool, 50g/112m) in Copper
• 3.25mm needles
• 4mm needles
• Darning needle
• Locking stitch markers

You can find the pattern inside issue 141 of Simply Knitting magazine.

As always I would love to see your finished projects.

Happy Knitting,

It’s Alive! Frankenstein Sweater for your little monster

It is that time of year again folks, where I dust off my spooky imagination and get to have some really silly fun in the name of being ‘seasonal’.

Over the years I have designed a number of Halloween collections for Simply Knitting magazine, but this year it is just one project….

Frankenstein Sweater (isn’t this young man just the coolest model ever?)

This super cute drop shoulder sweater is not only for Halloween, I am sure your little monster will want to wear this sweater well beyond the scary season.

Those of you who are not new to my work, will know that I like my designs to be playful, yet simple to achieve. There are charts for the hair and eyes, which are worked using the intarsia method.  But fear not, you could easily work these using duplicate stitch (or swiss darning), which would produce a great 3D effect for the features. The mouth and tongue are worked separately and sewn on the front at the end.

The pattern is written for chest sizes 53 – 76 cm (that is approx. 12 months to 11 years).

Skills needed:

• k2tog
• ssk
• ribbing
• picking up stitches
• mattress stitch
• swiss darning or intarsia
• crochet chain or I-cord

Kit needed:

• Stylecraft Special DK yarn in (black, bright green and violet)
• Oddment of red 4ply yarn
• 4mm crochet hook
• darning needle
• 2.5mm needles
• 3.25mm needles
• 4mm needles

You can find the pattern for this sweater inside issue 138 of Simply Knitting Magazine.

 

Still looking for more spooky inspiration, take a look at my Ravelry store,  if you are quick I am running a special offer.  Use the code ‘Socktober’ at the checkout and you will receive a 30% discount on all my patterns!  Happy Knitting, Jane x

Ghost Toy

Knitted eye balls

Black Cat Ear Hair Clips

Crochet Bunting

Black Cup Cosey

 

 

 

 

Mini Robot Sweater

I love my job, I may have said this before?  I love when a design that is in my head works just as well as I hoped it would.

This robot sweater is one of those designs,  it knitted up a treat and my model, well he is just so handsome.

The pattern is written for sizes 3 years – 5 years (I do have plans to re-launch this pattern in a couple months time, with a girls version and more sizes).  You can find the pattern for this inside Simply Knitting magazine issue 129.

I have had the pleasure of having this little guy model for me before and I am currently working away on my next design for him.  He is growing so fast I am having to knit larger and larger sizes!

I would love to hear from you, if you have any design inspiration for sweaters for little people that fun?  Please leave me a comment and I will see what I can do :)

Also featured in Issue 129 were these cute little knitted rings.

Christmas Glamour Knitting Patterns has a new sugar loaded colour palette

Everybody likes a sweetie or seven at Christmas, don’t they?

This year I decided that I would rework my Christmas Glamour patterns range in a sugar loaded colour palette.  I have chosen to use the gorgeous 4ply merino yarn from Wendy.

If you would like to make some of these cute Christmas treats, you will need a ball of each of the following yarns:

• Wendy Merino 4ply Seapray shade 2380
• Wendy Merino 4ply Birch shade 2365
• Peter Pan 4ply Sugar Plum shade 909

The patterns are available via my shop or on Ravelry, you can buy all six patterns for only £3 or if you would prefer to buy just one pattern it is yours for £1.50.

This is really a great stash busting project, each piece only uses approx. 10g of yarn.  I would love to see your finished projects.

 

Pretty in Pink Christmas Tree Jumper

Pretty in Pink Christmas Tree Sweater

Image courtesy of Simply Knitting Magazine

With its twinkling Christmas tree motif this is guaranteed to delight the little Princess in your life.

The pattern is written for chest sizes 55, 58.5 and 63.5cm which is approximately 3-5 years.

Matching collar and cuff detail

This is a traditional style drop shoulder sweater, worked from the bottom up.  It is a very straight forward knit and would suit a keen beginner.  The sparkly tree is worked using the Intarsia method and King Cole Galaxy DK yarn.  If you prefer to knit this in a plain yarn, you can easily substitute another DK yarn.  Why not knit one for a little Prince?

You can find the pattern inside the Hand Knit Christmas supplement which is free with issue 125 of Simply Knitting Magazine.  You can download your copy here.

 

As always I would love to see your finished projects on my Facebook page and on Ravelry.

Elf Yourself Knitted Christmas Jumper

 

Of course I have designed a silly Christmas Jumper for the man in your life.  Introducing my Elf Yourself Sweater.

 

 

Elf Yourself

Image courtesy of Simply Knitting Magazine

 

This charming sweater is a traditional drop shoulder sweater with an Intarsia Elf motif.  To make this a little easier on yourself I highly recommend swiss darning the belt buckle and black outlining on rather than using Intarsia.

The pattern is written for chest sizes 55, 58.5 and 63.5cm which is approximately 3-5 years.

You can find the pattern inside the Hand Knit Christmas supplement which is free with issue 125 of Simply Knitting Magazine.  You can download your copy here.

 

As always I would love to see your finished projects on my Facebook page and on Ravelry.

 

Santa Baby Hat & Sweater

I know how you all secretly love a good Christmas jumper!  I have been a busy girl creating three such delights for your little people.

Today I would like to introduce you to…… drum roll please…

Santa Baby

Images courtesy of Simply Knitting

This is a traditional style drop shoulder sweater, worked from the bottom up.  It is a very straight forward knit and would suit a keen beginner.  If you would like to make life even easier for yourself,  I recommend that you swiss darn the buckle details on, rather than intarsia.

The pattern is written for chest sizes 43, 45.5, 48, 53 and 55cm.  Which is approximately ages six months to 3 years.

This little chap looks super cute in his matching Santa hat.  The hat is worked in the round from the bottom up with simple shaping.  The pattern is written for three sizes (35.5, 40.5 & 45.5cm circumference)

You can find the pattern inside the Hand Knit Christmas supplement which is free with issue 125 of Simply Knitting Magazine.  You can download your copy here.

 

As always I would love to see your finished projects on my Facebook page and on Ravelry.

Happy Knitting X

Hello from the Little Monster in my Pocket Pal Sweater

It has been both busy and exciting times here at Knitting Image headquarters (okay, in my studio).  There have been lots of exciting commissions, and new companies to work with. I find it such a challenge to keep quiet about my projects as I am working on them.  I cast off and immediately want to write a blog ‘show & tell’.

A while back the folks at Simply Knitting Magazine asked me to apply my quirky style to some children’s garments.  This is the first in a series of designs, allow me to introduce you to ‘Pocket Pal’

A special thank you to this very handsome model

This adorable (even if I do say so myself) sweater has it’s very own baby monster which fits snuggly into the Mummy (or Daddy) monsters pouch.  Knit in Sublime Extra Fine Merino DK, it is beautifully soft against delicate skin.  The pattern is written for ages 0-6 months to 5 years and would look equally cute worked in a more feminine palette.

The sweater uses the Elizabeth Zimmermann sewn bind off for the neck.  This particular casting off method produces a very stretchy neckband, great for children’s garments.  This method developed by EZ of sewing the tail of yarn through the stitches creates a finished edge that perfectly mirrors the long tail cast on.

This is how you do it….

Leave a tail of yarn approx. three times the circumference of the neckband, thread this through a tapestry needle

1. Insert tapestry needle into first two stitches on left hand needle as if to p2tog, draw yarn through (do not slip off the needle)
2. Reinsert the tapestry needle into the first stitch on the left-hand needle as if to knit, draw yarn through and slip stitch off the needle

Repeat steps 1 & 2 until all stitches are cast off.  You can find a great video demonstration here

Issue 122 of Simply Knitting is available now, or you can download it from the App store and get knitting straight away.

As always I would love to see your finished projects on my Facebook page.

 

It’s beginning to feel a bit like Christmas

The shops are packed with cute little novelty decorations, some of the blogs I follow are starting THE countdown,  some even going so far as to work out how many rows/hours per project and days left to knit. I have …